


Magic Can’t Fix This

by PhantomFae



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, F/F, Family Issues, FtLoSW, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:14:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24655933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomFae/pseuds/PhantomFae
Summary: How do you make up for years of absence? How do you mend three broken hearts? How do you keep them safe from themselves?
Relationships: Shadow Weaver/Original Character
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

Her body shook as a cold breeze took over her small cell, her eyelids struggling to stay open as she lay curled up on the metal floor. A whimper escaped her before she heard the gruff voice of her guard.

“Quiet in there!”

She shivered, biting her lip before curling further into herself.

She couldn’t remember how long she’d been in this cell, but her walls were covered ceiling to floor with markings of her time in this room. She didn’t have the strength to count them all but she knew it had been years. Years of isolation. Years of being trapped here, alone. Years without seeing... well, anyone really. The only reason she had kept sane was the memories of her loves faces, and those too were starting to fade away along with her body.

She cried out as she was thrown across the room by an explosion that burst open the outside wall to her cell. Hissing in pain while hearing the shouts from the guards, she limped towards the gaping hole that showed the entire Fright Zone.

After years of only seeing the four cold metal walls of her prison, seeing the monstrosity and tech of the Fright Zone was almost a welcome new sight

She heard the guards make their way towards her location, their footfalls loud against the floor. Looking back and forth between the door and the gaping hole, she quickly made a split second decision.

She jumped, landing roughly on one of the catwalks, and ran as fast as her damaged limbs could go, right out of the nightmarish place and into the daunting unknown.

__________________________________

She gasped for breath just outside the tree line of the wildly unknown forest the Horde never dared enter. She slid down against a large root and tried to calm herself. Freedom felt bittersweet. She had abandoned the only place she had ever known and not looked for her family during her escape, but she also knew it would have been unwise. 

Looking around for them when she was supposed to be rotting in a cell was not an ideal escape.

Gazing around herself, trying to figure out where she was, she saw the top of the glimmering castle of the Hordes sworn enemy; the Rebellion. She hissed as her wounds made themselves known but she stood despite their protests.

She needed help, and she wasn’t so stubborn like someone else she knew as to not ask for it. 

She tripped and stumbled through the woods before coming close to the gate of the castle. Just before she could inquire the guard for help, her vision blurred, the guard rushing to grab her before she blacked out entirely, a single word on her lips.

“Help...”

___________________________________

Keroessa groaned as she regained consciousness, feeling something plush and soft underneath her. She tried to sit up, but a gentle hand stopped her.

“No, please rest more, you’re no where near healed enough to move.”

Keroessa searched blindly for the voices owner before settling on what she immediately knew as the Queen and the late King Micah’s daughter. Glimmer, she believed her name was. Keroessa ignored the girl, wincing as she tried to move out of bed before she felt Glimmer’s hand again on her shoulder, pressing down and holding her in place.

“Please, you were brought in pretty bad shape. You need rest.”

Keroessa knew the princess was right but she also felt her body needed to just get up and deal with the pain. Her family needed her. They most likely thought her dead when really, she was rotting away right under their noses on Hordak’s orders. She sighed heavily before croaking out.

“Water... please...”

Glimmer jumped up, practically running to the table with a water pitcher on it, before coming back and shoving a glass of water into her hands, partially spilling some of the liquid in her haste. The older woman quickly swallowed it all before laying back down, holding her head tenderly.

“What’s your name?”

Keroessa spared a glance at the princess before closing her eyes as she answered.

“My name is Keroessa, Princess Glimmer.”

“Just Glimmer is fine.”

Keroessa nodded slightly, silence quickly taking over the room for a few beats before Glimmer stood up.

“I have a few questions for you, Keroessa.”

The woman nodded again, more firmly now.

“It seems only right that I answer whatever questions you have. I came here asking for help, none of you knowing who I was but I couldn’t really explain at the time because of my injuries.”

Glimmer nodded before she took a breath, stepping closer and sitting down in the chair beside the bed like before.

“When you collapsed, the guard said you were mumbling in your unconscious state... you said a name that holds value here.”

Keroessa frowned slightly, trying to remember the word she had said. Glimmer saw the confusion and sighed, whispering a name that made Keroessa’s heart ache as she heard it.

“Adora...”

Her eyes widened drastically, bowing her head and slowly bringing a hand up to cover her mouth to prevent the sobs. Hearing it again brought back wonderful, but also painful, memories. She jumped when Glimmer’s voice escalated in volume, looking up to see the young princesses face hard and full of distrust.

“You’re from the Horde! I knew it! Only someone from the Horde or one of her friends would use her name instead of her mantle.”

The young princess quickly summoned her weapon, aiming it at the bedridden woman, who looked distraught still.

Keroessa groaned as she forced her body into an upright position slowly as to not aggravate Glimmer further. It took some effort to ignore the pain searing through her body but she managed.

“Yes... I came from the Horde but I have not answered to or obeyed the Horde for a good many years now. I was a prisoner for over a decade. I know the Horde is a foul, awful thing, at least now I do... but seeing as I answered your question...”

She gripped the bedsheets, trying to steady her weak body against the soft sheets as she stared curiously at Glimmer.

“How do you know Adora?”

“I’ll tell you when you do the same.”

Raising an eyebrow at the girls impetuous nature, and, releasing a shaky breath, she spoke tremulously.

“Adora... she, for lack of a better word, was one of my two daughters.”

Glimmers eyes softened for a moment before hardening again.

“Well then why has Adora never mentioned you? If you were her ‘mother’ then she would have mentioned you. Seems to me as if your trying to sell a story.”

Keroessa felt her rage bubble to the surface. Her eyes seemed to glow brighter, their colour going from their soft amber to a fierce gold with each second as her despair over losing her daughters clouded her mind, her voice loud and cutting as she yelled furiously at the young princess, who was looking at her with slight fear.

“Adora was and will always be my daughter! I wouldn’t be surprised if she never mentioned me because she was so young when I was practically ripped away from her!”

She grasped her arms, her fingers digging into them painfully. She couldn’t stop the tears from leaking out as she felt a small trickle of blood on her fingertips from the cuts her nails were making.

“I loved my daughters like any mother would! I loved Adora because to her, I was her only mother! Despite there being no blood between us, I was her mother! She was everything to me! Absolutely everything!”

Losing steam quickly, Keroessa collapsed in on herself, her hands cradling her head and sobbing full out now.

“My baby girl... my baby girls... I haven’t seen them in so long I barely remember their faces... so don’t you dare stand there and say that because she never mentioned me that I am not telling the truth...”

In that moment, as Glimmer stared down at the broken woman, sobbing openly for her daughters, the door to the room burst open to reveal the very person of discussion. 

“Hey Glimmer, just got back from forest patrol with Swiftwind and-“

She stopped mid sentence, staring straight at Keroessa’s shaking form, dropping her bag carelessly and dropping to her knees, letting out a small whimper as she struggled to speak, her hands shaking as she spoke.

“M-Mama?”

Keroessa’s sobs stopped instantly. She didn’t look up, a sharp taste of fear gripping her harshly in an almost suffocating grip, but she tentatively responded back to the gentle voice.

“... My little love, is that you?”

Hearing a heartbreaking cry leave the mouth of the girl who sounded so much like her toddler, although less child like and more mature, Keroessa dared to look up into the sad blue eyes of Adora. She inhaled sharply before holding a hand to her mouth to keep another sob from breaking through.

“It’s you... my little Adora... oh goddess, it’s really you... please come here, sweetheart...”

Keroessa wasn’t expecting a quick reaction, but Adora launched her body into her mothers arms and kept crying out.

“Mama! Where did you go? Don’t leave me again! Please don’t leave!”

Keroessa could barely contain her tears as she stroked her daughters hair gently to calm her, whispering sweetly to her as Glimmer watched the exchange in shock.

“I won’t ever leave you again, I swear, my sweet little love, never again. I never want to leave.”

Soon, Adora quieted, snuggling further into her mother. Keroessa looked up at Glimmer, silently nodding in gratitude as the girl stepped back before letting out a hiss as her daughter squeezed her fragile body a little too hard. Adora immediately pushed herself back to look at her mothers pained expression.

“Mama? What’s wrong?”

The pain slowly disappearing as she spoke, she managed a small smile at Adora.

“It’s alright, my little love, I’m just not in the best shape. Haven’t been for a long time.”

Adora’s face scrunched adorably in a deep frown.

“Where have you been? You just disappeared one day and Sha... no one would tell me where you went. Catra and I cried together for hours. Days even!”

Turning her sad gaze on her mother, she spoke so quietly Keroessa was barely able to grasp the words.

“Where did you go?”

Keroessa sighed, giving Glimmer a sharp look, the young princess nodding before quietly leaving. Turning back to her little love, who was not so little anymore, she tilted Adora’s head up gently.

“Adora, I didn’t leave by choice. I was... forced away from you and Catra. I begged for days to be brought back to you both who were most likely scared and alone. But... being a prisoner of Hordak means your voice is no longer heard.”

Adora’s eyes widened before she held onto her mother, her head resting under Keroessa’s chin.

“You were taken prisoner. Why?”

The older woman thought about this for a moment before deciding she would not reunite with her daughter and tell her any lies. She deserved the truth.

“Because I was a distraction for someone high in the ranks... I was apparently making both you and Catra weak with my attention... even though I had spent countless years working with the Horde, they cast me aside because I grew to love you and Catra, not to mention...”

Keroessa stopped for a moment, her heart torn as she tried to force a name out of her mouth that had long since been buried in the back of her mind.

“Mama, who else are you talking about?”

Looking down at her daughters glistening ice blue eyes, she let a tear slip out.

“I called her ‘my light’, because I always felt drawn to her like a flower to sunlight... but you wouldn’t know her by that nickname. She was... well, ‘my light’ was Shadow Weaver.”

Adora shifted out of her mothers arms again, looking beyond angry and appalled.

“Shadow Weaver was who you loved?! How can you love her?! She’s... she’s cruel, and manipulative, and-“

Softly grabbing her daughters arm, she pulled her towards the bed and sat her down, holding her loosely while keeping her eyes averted.

“I am well aware of Shadow Weavers faults. She... she wasn’t like that with me. I couldn’t tell my heart no then, and I won’t do that now.”

Raising her eyes to look at her daughter, she saw a haunted haze descend over the young face, her worry growing as she saw blue eyes reflect so much heartache.

“What did Shadow Weaver do to you and Catra in my absence?”

The girl said nothing for a good few moments before Keroessa stroked her arm and repeated, gentler and trying to keep her voice calm to disguise her own fear.

“Adora... what did she do to you two after I was taken away?”

Adora shook her head before letting out a choked sigh.

“She wasn’t cruel to me for the most part since you left- sorry, were taken. She was, however, always manipulative, saying I could be something great for the Horde, that I was a tool for the Hordes use. She made me out to be so important while Catra...”

Adora gripped to her mothers worn and torn clothes harder as she spoke.

“Catra was treated as less than me and Shadow Weaver terrified her to no end. She would always be too hard on Catra for not trying hard enough and she kept comparing her to me, saying I was perfect and she was only allowed to stay because I was fond of her.”

Keroessa stared down at her daughter silently for a good few minutes, lost in thought before she stood up, with great difficulty but also determination. Adora looked at her confused as she stood stock still for a moment before pacing angrily, still limping as she did.

“I told her...”

Adora tilted her head, more confused.

“What, Mama?”

Keroessa saw a glass vase beside the bed and grabbed it, quickly throwing it against the wall in a fit of fury, startling Adora. Her hand clenched into a fist, shaking violently as she spoke.

“I told her to keep you both safe! I told her to love you BOTH equally and take care of you to the best she could offer! Not cater to one daughter and deny the other! Was I that meaningless to her that she could just toss away every happy memory with you both that she had in her arsenal for the sake of the Hordes expectations?!”

Grabbing another glass, she launched it at the wall, watching it shatter before her daughter grabbed her arm.

“Mama stop!”

Crumbling to the floor in her daughters arms, she covered her face as tears treacherously leaked out of her eyes.

“Why? Why, my light? Why would you do that to our girls?”

“‘Our’ girls?”

Looking up at Adora sombrely, she wrapped her arms around herself, her body shaking from the cold. The flimsy excuse for clothes too thin to offer any protection, and it made it worse now that her hot rage had left, no adrenaline to numb her from the chill.

“Shadow Weaver did care about both of you in the beginning when I was assigned to care for you as babies.”

She hid her smile when she recalled Shadow Weaver holding Adora while she held Catra one day. The older woman had denied speaking lovingly to both girls when Keroessa had called her a ‘huge softie’ later that evening when the girls had fallen asleep.

“I grew to love you quickly and encouraged Shadow Weaver to spend time with all of us. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel her smiling under her mask whenever one of you would see her and crawl to her, squealing happily and grabbing at her dress.”

Keroessa let a frown mar her face as she clenched her hands, trying to hold back her irritation. Adora quickly grabbed her hands, looking at her with compassion and in doing so, allowing the hands to relax.

“But to hear how she’s treated you these past years in my absence... it’s... I’m so angry with her for forgetting that you aren’t tools, you were her daughters at one point just as much as you were my own.”

Silence happened between them for a good few moments. Adora sighed before getting up and helping her mother up.

“You’re still injured, Mama, why don’t you get some rest, we can talk more later and get you something to eat.”

Hanging her head, Keroessa got up and into bed silently, if not a little off balance still. Adora stood awkwardly before the older woman reached out a hand under the covers.

“If you want to reenact when you used to crawl into bed with me whenever you had a nightmare, I wouldn’t object.”

Adora quickly got under the covers before being wrapped up in her mothers arms again. Both fell asleep within minutes, the exhaustion of revelations weighing heavily on their minds.


	2. Chapter 2

Keroessa woke up slowly, smelling something delicious nearby. Turning her head, she noticed the nice room and soft golden hair of her daughter, her body safely tucked in her arms.

“So it wasn’t another dream... thank the goddess...”

Gently getting up to not disturb her daughter, she saw a steaming plate of breakfast for each of them. She felt slightly ravenous but she felt the need to properly see how Adora had grown.Turning back to her daughter, she had went back to the bed, stroking her daughters sleeping face almost reverently. 

She couldn’t help the smile that broke out as she looked at Adora’s adult features, memorizing and comparing them to that of her younger self. 

“I’m never leaving you again, my darling girl... not while I still have some fight in me, I’ll never be away from you again.”

She sat at her daughters bedside, too scared to look away and find it was another dream. After a little while, the door opened again to reveal Glimmer and what she guessed to be her mother, seeing the resemblance. Keroessa glanced at them sparingly before looking back at Adora, speaking softly but cautiously.

“Good morning, Queen Angella, Princess Glimmer. I would stand to bow but I’m afraid my body still has not recovered enough to do so.”

Queen Angella eyed her warily while Glimmer looked over her at Adora. The Queen spoke coldly, plainly, and Keroessa almost laughed at how similar she was right now to Shadow Weavers mannerisms.

“My daughter says you came from the Horde, weak and almost near death. I want to know your intentions and why you chose to come here.”

Keroessa sighed before standing gracefully, leaning down to push a stray hair out of her daughters face before straightening up and giving the two royals her full attention.

“I truly did not intend to come here. I was imprisoned at the Horde for years and I ran at the first opportunity, even while injured. I came across Bright Moon and collapsed from exhaustion just outside your gates. I have no ill will or diabolical plan in place but if you do not believe me, then I will gladly stay in a contained cell until you do.”

Angella raised an eyebrow imperiously.

“Your offering to be put in a cell?”

Keroessa glared at the Queen.

“I’m not offering, I’m asking if that would set your mind more at ease to have me under watch. I only ask that you not bar Adora from me, as I’m sure your daughter also explained our relationship.”

Angella stood in thought for a moment before sighing, bowing her head.

“I cannot put Bright Moon at risk. I do not know you, so even though Adora may vouch for you, I can’t allow an unknown woman to waltz around freely. I will have to put you in a room to be monitored for the time being.”

“No! Queen Angella, you can’t!”

Swiftly turning around to face her fully awake daughter, terrified blue eyes staring at her, Keroessa gave her a small smile.

“Little love, I already told you I’m not leaving you ever again. I understand why the Queen needs to do this. You won’t be barred from me, so you have no reason to worry.”

Adora still leapt out of bed and wrapped her arms tightly around her mothers waist. Looking at the Queen apprehensively, she spoke quietly.

“You won’t keep me from her? You won’t hide my mother from me?”

Angella seemed more surprised to hear Adora say Keroessa was her mother then to hear an unknown woman had collapsed outside. She was even more surprised to hear how small Adora sounded, her usual confident and strong voice completely gone.

The Queen straightened herself, nodding in agreement at Adora, before calling for guards and having them escort Keroessa to her cell. The mothers heart clenching painfully as her daughters tears streamed down her face.

“I promise, Adora, I won’t disappear again.”

____________________________________

Keroessa was led gingerly towards her cell, or room as the Queen had put it. As they approached it, she could hear voices inside the room beside it.

She looked towards her guards, only getting simple blank faces before they opened the doors for her, yet she was curious. Looking back at Angella, she tilted her head towards the other door, getting a sigh but being led to it without debate.

When she entered, she saw the back of a woman and several younger princesses. Her clothes clearly showed that she was from the Sorcerer’s Guild. She took a moment to glance around the people in the room before she heard a voice she would recognize anywhere.

“Do you all simply not understand that what I am telling you has no gain for me? I would not come here for aid if I knew you all would be so blind to the truth.”

She couldn’t move for a moment before the Queen stood behind her. She felt the hand on her shoulder before she was able to move towards the voice that had haunted her dreams for so many years. 

“What is going on here!?”

“Queen Angella, we-“

As the woman moved and spoke to the queen, Keroessa could catch the slightest glimpse of the owner of the voice who she had not seen for so long. She felt drawn in, raw, unhinged. She couldn’t contain herself as she walked closer towards the barrier. The other princesses saw her and made a move to stop her and block her way, but the Queen interrupted.

“Stop... Let her through.”

The princesses hesitated before withdrawing, giving Keroessa her full view of Shadow Weaver. The woman’s head was bowed, not looking up at her captors. Keroessa had to hold back tears of joy and rage as she fell to her knees, a whisper escaping her choked up throat.

“... My light?”

Shadow Weaver still did not look up but she flinched slightly at the words. Keroessa was mildly hurt at this reaction but understood that she’d most likely been thought dead by her lover for years.

“If you think tormenting me with that voice will get anymore information then I have already given you, you are mistaken. I know you think I’ll bend to that voice, Castaspella, but the person is the one I would bend to, and she is long gone...”

Keroessa choked as tears leaked down her face, reaching her hand out only to be stung by the barrier.

“I... Shadow Weaver, please... just look at me... I’m right here... I was never gone...”

Shadow Weaver flinched again but still did not look up. Keroessa rubbed furiously at her face, wiping away the still steady flowing tears as she spoke.

“Please... please, just look at me... you promised never to hide from me... you promised you would never hide your face from me...”

That made the woman flinch again, most likely from the memory of her promise but she finally looked up, her hand clutching her chest fiercely as she finally saw her. Keroessa gasped as she saw her mask was broken, the garnet removed from it. She pressed her hand against the barrier, ignoring the stinging feeling. Shadow Weaver was more hesitant but did the same, almost reverently, as if even by close proximity Keroessa would vanish in front of her.

After only a moment, the Queen grabbed her gently, pulling her away from the barrier. Keroessa heard the snarl coming from Shadow Weaver and closed her eyes, remembering the sound in different circumstances and what it meant.

“I’m fine, sweetheart. Please calm down.”

The snarling ceased but she could almost feel the glare directed at the Queen from Shadow Weaver.

“I’m reconsidering putting you in the next room, so close to her.”

Keroessa looked up at Angella before shaking her head. 

“No, it saves you time and space if we are both in two close rooms, rather then me at the other side of the castle. As long as you allow me to sit in here with her during the day, with guards, of course. You can monitor us both easily that way.”

Angella seemed to think for a moment before sighing resolutely.

“Fine. But she is to remain in her holding cell. The only reason you aren’t going to be in one is because Adora insisted. You will only be allowed to leave your cell with the company of guards until further notice.”

Nodding towards the others in the room, Angella left quickly, the guards coming to grab Aurelia to escort her before she held a hand up gently.

“May I say goodbye before I go to my own... room?”

After looking at each other cautiously, the guards lowered their heads in consent, blank expressions not leaving their face and weapons readied as Keroessa went back to the barrier, her hands immediately pressing against it to feel closer to Shadow Weaver.

“I promise we will talk later. We have much to discuss.”

“Keroessa I...”

She couldn’t help but shiver as her name was spoken so softly.

“Later. We will talk. We both have quite a bit to answer for.”

She pulled her fingers away, seeing Shadow Weaver’s own twitch and reach up towards her slightly before allowing the guards to lead her away, shutting the doors behind them before a lock was clicked into place.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sincerely apologize for the long wait for this new chapter, I have been exceedingly under the weather in more ways than one and haven’t had the motivation to write. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

As she entered Shadow Weaver rooms the next day, the guards nodded before leaving the room to stand outside.

She had been arguing with Adora for the first part of the morning about coming here. Her daughter was worried and wanting to keep her safe, but outright forbidding her in her outrage from going to see Shadow Weaver had been going too far. Adora had aggressively refused to let her leave, blocking the door with her body, before Keroessa had bluntly told her that she had questions and that she was a grown woman who could handle a trapped, magically drained Shadow Weaver.

Adora had then slumped in defeat and allowed herself to be pulled into her mothers arms, reassuring her and kissing her head before being allowed to leave with guards in tow.

Turning back towards the woman in the barrier, she sat on the floor. She studied the woman in the barrier more thoroughly, not having had the chance while in shock the previous day.

Her hair now hung limply over her shoulders, no longer wavy and active like she remembered. Her mask was cracked down the middle, yet not enough to be able to see the scarred skin underneath. She couldn’t help but notice how her posture even while sitting was not regal, but more weighed down, her hands holding her up. She looked so weak.

Silence overtook the room, almost suffocatingly so before Shadow Weavers husky tone broke it.

“Where were you? All those months I... until Hordak-“

“Told you that I abandoned you? Betrayed the Horde and sentenced to exile on Beast Island?”

Shadow Weaver paused, her head hung once more as she processed that the woman she had loved so dearly so many years ago, was in front of her, alive, not abandoned the Horde and her, sent away and likely killed in her exile. Yet, she had kept hope and searched for months as she had said, but her shadows had always failed her when sent out to search for certainty in the woman's fate.

Keroessa slid closer to the cells barrier, seeing the confusion swirling in Shadow Weavers eyes, barely an inch away from the wall but not daring to touch as she spoke tiredly.

“Shadow Weaver, I never left the Fright Zone. Hordak had been keeping me prisoner until recently in the deepest, most secure part of the prison, where not even you could find me despite the Black Garnet or any spell you had. He disrupted my magical signature with his machines so you wouldn’t find me.”

Shadow Weaver’s head snapped up at an inhuman speed, her eyes widening sharply while weak shadows danced angrily on her fingertips. She obviously wasn’t strong enough for them to reach out to touch or solidify, but she could express them clearly. Her eyes began to glow a luminous red, getting brighter as a hiss of rage left the woman’s throat.

“He. Stole. You. Took you away from me... He hurt you... for years...”

Shadow Weaver stood sharply, looking wild and untamed, dark obsidian hair becoming tangled with the whipped movement, as she stared at Keroessa, malice in her eyes and dark inky shadows weaving around her body like a shield.

“He... hid you from ME! He LIED to me! He took... EVERYTHING FROM ME!”

Seeing the effect the information was having on the explosive woman, Keroessa didn’t think as she jumped to her feet, rushing the barrier and wincing, crying out as the sting coursed through her body. A cry of agony was ripped from her throat as she pressed her palms against the barrier, desperately trying to be closer and calm the older woman down.

When Shadow Weaver met her eyes, she snarled and slammed her body into the wall separating them, hitting it with both fists in her fury while she screamed.

“He had NO RIGHT to take you away! You were MINE! He had no right... NONE, to take you from me!”

Keroessa stared, unable to speak in response as Shadow Weaver screamed in pain. She was still too weak to push herself through the wall to offer comfort and as the woman inside raged and grew more and more dangerous, the guards posted outside the room, as well as Queen Angella, burst through the door.

They quickly surrounded the barrier as Shadow Weaver lashed around with her shadows, her eyes kept firmly on Keroessa but her shadows completely out of her control. The Queen traced a pattern in front of the barrier, the lines glowing and pressing itself into the magical wall. As it made contact, the wall emitted streams of lightning, hitting Shadow Weaver from all angles, her cries piercing Keroessa’s heart painfully.

As the sorceress collapsed unconscious from the pain, Keroessa slid to the floor, her hands covering her mouth in horror as she saw the woman’s smoking form.

”What happened?”

As she felt Angella’s hand lay on her shoulder, she snapped, whirling around to glare at the Queen as she stood, her fists clenched at her sides.

”Why would you do that?! I could have calmed her down! You... You didn’t need to do that to her!”

The Queen frowned, taking a step towards the livid woman and straightening to her full height.

“She was becoming violent-“

Keroessa quickly cut her off, gesturing wildly towards the unconscious form of Shadow Weaver.

”She was in the barrier! She’s still too magically weakened to put even a scratch in the wall and yet you decided to electrocute her to stop her?!”

Angella looked shamefaced for a split second before she glared harshly. 

“I did what I thought was the right course of action. No one, especially not a former Horde accomplice, has any right to question me about what I choose to do as Queen.”

Keroessa shook her head angrily, crossing her arms and turning away from the Queen.

”Despite my poor judgment with joining the Horde, I still have some inkling of what is right or wrong. Do not use my background as an excuse for my objection to your rash behaviour concerning a prisoner in distress, regardless of who it is.”

Angella stilled, her face going from distaste to a neutral expression, almost contemplative.

Keroessa glared down at the floor, like it was the cause for her anger, then looked back towards the still smoking body of Shadow Weaver, feeling her heart drop again at the sight.

”Please... can you bring me some supplies to deal with any burns or injuries she sustained from the electrocution? Can you, at least, do that? She’s no good to you dead.”

Angella stiffened, closing her eyes in agitation, before nodding slightly and tracing another pattern towards the barrier. As the magical walls dissipated around Shadow Weaver. Angella briskly turned away, gesturing for her guards to follow so she could collect herself and retrieve the medical equipment, the click of the doors multiple locks echoing throughout the room.

Keroessa sighed, hurriedly moving towards Shadow Weavers still form on the floor and kneeling beside her. She pulled the limp woman to lay in her lap, her head resting on her thighs while her hair lay limp, draped all around them in curls and tangles. She grabbed a few strands gently and began to untangle them, running her fingers through Shadow Weavers scalp in a calming pattern every few minutes when the woman would whimper in pain.

After she had gotten halfway through the strands, she felt the body laying on her legs shift, Shadow Weavers head flinching and a groan escaping her throat. Keroessa patiently stayed in place, unmoving, still holding a half untangled strand of the woman’s locks in one hand.

Shadow Weaver placed a hand on Keroessa’s thigh to lift herself, her head snapping up after feeling the soft, plush flesh under her, panicked eyes wildly looking up into the younger woman’s. They stayed that way for a few moments before clarity started to push back the fog of pain in Shadow Weavers eyes, the red glow from before getting brighter the longer she stared into Keroessa’s own. When she tried to move away, to give their bodies some space, Shadow Weaver snarled loudly and pulled her in by her hips, their difference in height becoming apparent as the woman rose to sit up straight and grasp the back of Keroessa’s head, her nails slightly digging into her skull in obvious warning.

Seeing the rising rage from before starting up again, Keroessa grabbed hold of the older woman’s shoulders slowly, trying not to make sudden moves as she placed her palm on her cheek, her fingers gently tracing the grooves of Shadow Weavers pointed ear.

She thought that would have calmed the mercurial woman down, as it had done in the past, but she was surprised and slightly scared when she was pinned to the ground in a tight embrace, Shadow Weaver quite literally growling on top of her.

Keroessa struggled for a moment, the fingers digging into her wrists only mildly painful before another growl broke out above her, louder and more feral than the last.

She looked up into glowing eyes, eyes she’d once tolerated watching her and the girls as they played, before growing to love them passionately. She felt the inky black tendrils of magic grasping desperately at her hips, properly solidified in Shadow Weaver’s rage, as if searching her person for answers. They pricked and clawed at her legs, at her arms, everywhere the blackness could reach, feeling something akin to how icy frost feels on bare skin. The magic slowing as it rose up her body to comb through her long dark auburn hair, almost in a display of idle worship.

Her pale skin tingled from the touch of Shadow Weaver and cried out when the wisps of dark magic surrounding her, barely touching her to begin with, would retreat in their movements over her, only to start again momentarily afterwards. She carefully moved her hand, not fast enough to startle the unhinged woman into a frenzy, but slowly reaching up to stroke her mask, her wrist still in a tight, possessive hold, caressing the hard material with deep care.

The wild look in those glowing eyes diminished with each stroke of her thumb on the cold feeling mask, hiding the damage Shadow Weaver’s face has gone through after her forced transformation.

Speaking gently, she tried to coax the woman hiding behind this crazed animal who had a grip on her out.

“My light... I’m safe. I’m still here, to hold, to have, to love. But I am not an item. Please release my wrists.”

Shadow Weaver’s eyes cleared, the possessive animal safely tucked away for now. The womanlooked at the red welts starting to appear from her fingers tight grasp before releasing Keroessa wrists entirely, instead gently holding her by the hips as they sat up on their knees. No noise was made for a few minutes, before a shaky breath was exhaled from Shadow Weaver.

“You really are here... I am not dreaming...”

Keroessa cupped her chin with one hand, giving her a sad smile as she traced the edge of the mask with her thumb.

“No, I am really here. You aren’t dreaming.”

Shadow Weaver’s shoulders slumped, her head resting on the younger woman’s shoulder as she sighed shakily. Just as Keroessa made to open her mouth and say something to ease Shadow Weaver further, she stopped when she heard the woman start to break out into sobs. She cradled Shadow Weaver’s head to her chest, gently rocking them as she cried. The woman’s cries were more reminiscent of howling, a harsh heartbreaking sound that seemed to rip itself from the very core of her being. 

Keroessa felt her eyes water, the tears flowing unwillingly as she rocked them and heard the agony in Shadow Weavers sobs. She pressed a kiss into the woman’s hair, her tears dripping into the thick tresses, as she whispered softly to the woman with both hands caressing the sides of her mask.

”I’m here, Shadow Weaver... I’m here now... please don’t cry, darling...”

The cries slowly ebbed off, shuddering breaths escaping Shadow Weaver as her hands raised up to grip onto the still weeping woman’s shoulders. Still shaking slightly from mental and magical exhaustion, she raised her head and pressed her forehead against Keroessa’s, speaking hoarsely.

”You can’t leave me... You can’t...”

Keroessa smiled tearfully, closing her eyes as she responded with her hands clasped behind Shadow Weavers neck.

”I’m here... I’m here now, love... I’m not leaving...”


End file.
